Ever since the famous Met Gala has taken place, many celebrities have participated and showed off their fashion-forward outfits that pertain to the theme “Garden of Time”. Despite the glamorous showcase, people all over social media are furious with these icons because of their choice to be silent about the current set of circumstances in Palestine. They find it upsetting that these celebrities do not use their platform to spread awareness about the situation, or even fund the helpless. As a result, the community has decided to take action and block every public figure who showed up to the Met Gala. Some social media users call this “Operation Blockout 2024”.
This activity began when the influencer and model, Haley Bayley, used a famous TikTok audio from the movie Marie Antoinette (2006). What sparked this operation is that this audio clip says the lines, “Let them eat cake.” The meaning of this line describes the historical moment during the French Revolution when Marie Antoinette was ignorant of the French peasants’ lack of food and money. It applies to this real life situation because it shows how famous people are turning their backs on the people who are powerless on the other side of the world. As a result, people have taken action and began blocking celebrities who appeared at the Met Gala or did not use their fame to help the Palestinians.
For instance, social media users have taken clips of the Met Gala and their models, claiming that they are the ones to block. Such examples can be the famous celebrities, Zendaya and Dwayne “Rock” Johnson. In addition to this, people all over Tiktok post photos that list the amount of celebrities needed to block for their silence during this time. There are others that even post the celebrities that have used their platform to talk about Palestine like Melanie Martinez and Renee Rap.
The ongoing controversy of this operation is that many people find this effective while others find it useless. The people who find it effective argue that it makes the celebrities lose their influence and face the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the people who find it useless claim that no matter how much people block them, their fame will stay on the rise. Plus, celebrities do not acknowledge their fans by usernames and whatnot. The two sides conflict with each others’ ideas which makes this event debatable.
“Operation Blockout 2024” is a widespread action that has been debatably effective for the famous influencers. Since this has happened, social media users wonder if this will force the celebrities to use their voice or gradually lose their followers.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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